Sonic CD 2: The Timestone Prophecy
by S.P.D. Gold Ranger
Summary: Sonic's back in an all new adventure, but in this one, it's not Mobius that Robotnik has his sights set on. This time, the mad doctor's after the planet Earth!
1. A Snap of Fate

_Sonic CD 2_

Author's Note: Okay, I have not played Sonic CD in FOREVER (really wish I still had my Sega CD), but I've got something for you. This is like a sequel to said game, but bigger and with a twist. To see that twist, see the story synopsis below. And PLEASE review! They're what keep my stories going! (Note: Nick and Haruka are my original creations as well as any new Zones in this adventure. Another thing, this takes place between Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, without Knuckles or Tails, but with the Death Egg. Amy is in this one, however. Also, this story goes by the theory that Robotnik survived the final explosion in the original _Sonic CD_.)

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Official Story of _Sonic CD 2_

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Sonic's back in an all new adventure, only this time it's not Mobius that Robotnik is trying to take down. This time, his madness is spreading to a blue planet known as Earth!

Enter a girl named Haruka Reisei, a 13-year-old girl who is just reading her journal one day, when all of a sudden, a bright light appears in her room and whisks her away. The girl appears inside Robotnik's doomed Death Egg. Said mad scientist introduces himself and produces a startling rumor: he thinks that Haruka knows the whereabouts of the Gold Timestone, a gem even more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds, Super Emeralds, Master Emerald, and the original Time Stones _combined_. Haruka doesn't want to know what he'll do to get the information he needs, so in a desperate plea, she calls out to the one person she knows that can help-

"Nick!"

Across town back on Earth, the 14-year-old Nick hears Haruka's call and, being the best friend that he is, rushes to find her. Back on Mobius, Sonic is speeding around looking for his girlfriend Amy Rose, who has once again been kidnapped by Robotnik. As he searches, he gets sucked into a dimensional rift created by an unknown force. Sonic winds up on Earth, and by a snap of fate, Nick and Sonic (literally) crash into each other.

After a quick introduction, they find out that Robotnik kidnapped both of their friends. And thus, they set off on the greatest adventure yet. But, it won't be easy. The evil doctor has once again traveled through time, and Nick and Sonic will have to find the Time Stones, and possibly the Gold Timestone, in order to find Robotnik and end the charade.

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And Off We Go!

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And that's how this story will go down. Get ready, because it's time for...

_Sonic CD 2: The Timestone Prophecy_

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Chapter 1: A Snap of Fate

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We start our story not on Mobius, the home planet of the little blue and speedy hedgehog.

No, this time, our attention is focused on a bluer planet, not so far away.

A planet...

...called Earth.

It's a bustling metropolis of varied culture, where people go about their daily lives doing all sorts of stuff.

Thing is, it's not boring. It's really eventful.

And for 2 kids, their lives are about to get REALLY eventful.

SonicCD2:TheTimestoneProphecyPart1

We now snap into a house on the north suburb, to be exact, the home of 13-year-old Haruka Reisei, a brunette who's happy with her waist-length hair and simple fashions. Little does she know, her life will soon become as complicated as one's life could ever get.

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_Wednesday, April 9th, 6:05 PM_

_And that settled it. Nick and I are off to lunch on Saturday, together._

_It's not a date though. We're just good friends. REALLY good friends, I might add. My parents are fine with it, so don't worry._

_Now, we just need to think of a place to go..._

_Yours truly,_

_Haruka_

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With that, Haruka closed her journal and set it on her nightstand. She flopped back down onto her bed, her long, flowing brown hair waving in the breeze coming from her open window. She slowly looked out at the setting sun and the glow it cast over the sky.

"I'm glad my parents gave in and let me go with Nick unsupervised. I mean, I'm old enough now. And besides, Nick and I have been down since 2nd grade! I wonder what convinced them?" she said to herself. She then found herself yawning.

"Man, that track meet must have taken more out of me than I thought. Maybe I should take a nap."

With that, Haruka snuggled up to her pillow. "Just for a bit..." With that, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next moment, a bright beam of light streaked through Haruka's open window, struck the girl, and she disappeared in a flash.

SonicCD2:TheTimestoneProphecyPart1

Back on Mobius...

A strange blue blur zigged and zagged around mountains and grasslands at almost supersonic speeds. The blue bomber known as Sonic the Hedgehog looked high and low as he sped around, but to no avail. His girlfriend Amy Rose was missing again, and after the incident with Robo-Sonic and the Time Stones, Sonic had been worried sick about the cute pink hedgehog. What if Robotnik took her again?

"I don't get it. It hasn't been that long since I destroyed Robotnik's Silver Moon. He couldn't be back that soon," Sonic said as he sped across a river with blinding speed, actually cutting the large body of water in half.

Sonic didn't realize how wrong he was.

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Haruka woke up to find herself inside what looked like a gigantic metal city. Her blue eyes suddenly snapped open as she registered her surroundings. She even thought she saw a pink hedgehog in the far distance.

"Where am I?" were the first words to come out of her mouth.

"You're on the Death Egg, my fair lady!" says a mysterious voice. Haruka looks into the shadows to see a really fat man with goggles, a short beard, and a red lab coat standing there holding a gemstone.

"The _what?_ And for that matter, who the heck are you?" Haruka snapped at the man.

"Oh, gosh, I didn't even introduce myself. Doctor Ivo Robotnik, resident supergenius and evil scientist," the man said, juggling the emerald-colored stone in his hands.

"What is this place?"

"This is my Death Egg. I'm about to crash it on Earth, because I need a mystical force known as the Gold Timestone to power it so I can destroy my arch-enemy Sonic!" Robotnik said menacingly.

"Sonic? You mean Sonic the Hedgehog? I thought he was just a video game star!" Haruka replied in surprise.

"Not where you come from, missy."

"And what makes you think I'd know any of this talk about timestones and stuff?"

"Because, my fair maiden..."

Robotnik takes Haruka's chin into his hands and stares at her with a menacing look.

"I know you know where the Gold Timestone is hiding."

"What!"

Haruka then began to run all this through her mind. _Sonic, a thought-to-be video game superstar. Robotnik, this evil scientist obsessed with destroying Sonic. This "Gold Timestone", which Robotnik thinks I know about. I don't like this. No, I don't like this one bit!_ she thinks as Robotnik's glare turns deadly.

"I'll do anything to get that information, lady."

_Not good!_

Haruka began to sweat, knowing that this guy was trouble with a capital T. She knew only one person who could help her now. Someone she knew really well, and vice versa. Someone who knew how to kick butt. Someone who'd protect her no matter what. So, she shouted that person's name as loud as she could, hoping that this person would get the message.

"Nick!"

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Sonic began speeding up even more, now really worried about Amy. As he sped down Mount Mobius, he came across what looked like a dimensional rift, probably left by the collapse of the Silver Moon (that giant metal moon in the _Sonic CD _intro movie). He observed it for a bit. "Where'd this thing come from?" he said as he looked the gate up and down.

"I might as well check it out. I really don't have anything to lose," he said, and he ran top speed into the gate.

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14-year-old Nick Kelly began applying the paint to a watercolor picture he was doing for his art class.

"Okay, just a few more drops, and..."

His session was suddenly interrupted when he heard his name echoing all over the house. The swiftness of the shout shocked Nick into dropping his pastels. Thankfully, they didn't land on his picture.

"That... that was Haruka's voice! Oh, man, she must be in trouble!" he said in a panic, placing all of his art supplies on his nightstand and dashing downstairs and out the front door in a flash. Once outside, he ran straight down North Wallace Avenue. He didn't see the portal open and a blue blur exit from said portal until it was too late.

The two met with a loud crash that knocked Nick back half the avenue's length. He did a sort of backflip and landed on his feet just in time, with minimal damage. He then caught sight of the blue blur that slammed him down the street. Upon setting his full gaze on the blue hedgehog, his eyes widened.

_No way. No... freaking... way!_

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Nick slowly walked up to the blue hedgehog, still surprised that this was the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog. He decided to play it safe with the introductions for now.

"Oh, hey, sorry. I didn't see you coming," Nick said to Sonic as the hedgehog dusted himself off and stood back up.

"That stuff happens when you're going at that kind of speed," Sonic replied as he looked the newcomer up and down.

"So, you must be Sonic the Hedgehog," Nick said before covering his mouth. _I thought I wasn't gonna say that!_ he thought.

"So, you've heard of me, too, huh?" the blue hedgehog replied.

"You could say that," Nick replied as he looked back at Sonic. "So, what are you doing around these parts?"

"I'm searching for my girlfriend. I think Robotnik took her again."

"Whoa. Is that coincidence or what? My friend Haruka just disappeared, too! Wait..." Nick pondered for a bit. "You don't think Robotnik took Haruka, too?"

"I didn't think Robotnik could go so low," Sonic said as he looked the area up and down. "Kidnapping 2 girls in one go. He really is evil."

"Then, we'd better stop him," Nick said, getting ready to run down the street when he felt Sonic's hand grab his own.

"Why run your way when you can take the Sonic Express?" Sonic said, smiling. "Hold on!"

Nick tightened his grip as Sonic began to rev up, his feet turning into a blur, and a radiating effect beginning to spring up around Sonic.

"Ok, here we go!" Sonic said, and he sped forward with blinding speed, Nick holding on for dear life. Soon, stars began to swirl around the two.

Suddenly, Nick realized what Sonic was doing.

"Are... are we time warping?" he asked.

"Yup," Sonic replied as he began to flash.

3 seconds later, they shot off in a streak and disappeared, skid marks left behind from the force of acceleration.

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(Author's Note: This is the first of my fan-made zones.)

The _Electron Alley Zone_: A gigantic factory full of electronic gizmos fit only for the future. This is Robotnik's latest robot-making lair, constructing his greatest machines in search of the Time Stones. This zone contains everything from hidden blasters that shock unsuspecting trespassers to electrified floors, spinning fan blades to giant droids, and even a pulse floor that can send someone flying if hit in the right spot!

In a bright flash of light, Nick and Sonic appeared in the zone and skidded to a stop. "So, this is where Robotnik's constructing his army now," Sonic said as he set his sights upon the factory.

"We'd better find a way out of here so we can find Robotnik," Nick said as he approached what appeared to be a series of pulse lifters. Suddenly, a voice entered his head.

_Nick! Nick, can you hear me?_

"Haruka? Is that you?" Nick said to himself, as it was clear that Haruka was trying to contact him through telepathy.

_Yeah, Nick, it's me. Listen, I'm in big trouble here!_

"I kinda figured that," he replied.

_This guy called Robotnik thinks I know something about this "Gold Timestone". I'm on his Death Egg, and I don't like this!_

"Wait. You're on the Death Egg?"

"Death Egg?" Sonic said, surprised.

"I thought Sonic destroyed that thing!" Nick replied to Haruka.

_He's trying to crash land it on Earth. You'd better find the Time Stones and stop Robotnik!_

"How do we find the Time Stones?"

_My instinct is telling me to find a lamppost marked "Special" and spin it. Jump in the stars and you should find the Time Stones. Please, Nick. I'm counting on you._

The voice dissipated. Nick turned to Sonic. "Did you catch all of that, Sonic?"

"Yeah," the blue hedgehog replied. "Let's find those Time Stones and stick it to Robotnik!"

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And that's the first part of my story. I'll update again very soon. Until then!

Yours truly,

S.P.D. Gold Ranger

SonicCD2:TheTimestoneProphecy

Next Time:

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Chapter 2: Time Stone Quest

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Nick and Sonic begin their quest to collect the Time Stones and rescue Amy and Haruka. Along the way, the two heroes begin to gather information on the Gold Timestone. What they find is something they won't want to forget.


	2. Time Stone Quest

_Sonic CD 2: The Timestone Prophecy_

Author's Note: I'm gonna be doing a different thing for the story breaks, since my Wordpad is screwing up the formatting on those lines.

This Chapter: Nick and Sonic begin their race to find Amy, Haruka, and the Time Stones. Along the way, they pick up information on the Gold Timestone, and are shocked at what they find.

_Sonic CD 2: The Timestone Prophecy_

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( Chapter 2: Time Stone Quest )

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Back in the Electron Alley Zone, Nick and Sonic have started off on their quest to rescue their friends and recover the Time Stones. But, little do they know, Robotnik is watching...

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We go back in time a bit, back to Robotnik's Death Egg. Haruka slowly opens her eyes, having been knocked out by Robotnik earlier. She finds herself floating in what appears to be a glass tube.

"How'd I get here?" she asks herself before raising her foot and thrusting it forward, cracking the glass tube. The clear fluid surrounding her began to slowly spill out.

"One more should do it," she says, striking the inside of the tube one more time, and the glass breaks, sending Haruka sprawling to the floor. She slowly gets up, brushes the fluids off of her, and walks forward, suddenly noticing that the alarms haven't gone off.

"Why didn't the alarms go-" she starts, but she stops short upon finding a note pinned to the side of a nearby control panel. She unpins the note and read it.

_Staff:_

_I shall be back in 10 minutes. I'm going to deal with Sonic._

_Robotnik_

"I wish there was a way I could contact them," she says to herself as she walks around the area, looking at all the various machinery. Suddenly, she comes across what appears to be a giant radio. Across the top, big, bold letters say "Radio Frequency Amplifier".

"Wait, that's it! If this is anything like the walkie-talkies we've been studying in Tech Ed class, I should be able to find Nick!" she says, running up to the machine. She begins to push various buttons and levers.

"Okay, everything's set. Now I just have to lock on to Nick's frequency..." Haruka said, turning a dial. "...and I know Robotnik uses this to find Sonic. Wherever he is, Nick must be with Sonic."

She turns the dial to a marker labeled "Sonic". She then presses a flashing blue button and the machine states, "Please input voice message."

"Here goes nothing," she says to herself.

"Nick! Nick, can you hear me?" she says into the machine.

(Note: A reviewer asked me how Haruka was talking to Nick telepathically in the last chapter. This flashback should answer that question for you.)

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Back in the present time, we now join Nick and Sonic as they approach a long gauntlet of electric floors. They randomly lighted up with electric energy.

"How are we gonna get past this one?" Nick asked.

Sonic, always known for being a fast thinker, suddenly saw a wire lattice a good height above the electricity grid.

"We could swing on that!" the blue hedgehog said.

"Good idea!" Nick replied as he and Sonic took a few steps back. With a running start, they dashed forward and leapt, quickly grabbing onto the lattice. As they swung their way over, Nick noticed a lamppost on the other side. It had the word "Special" on it.

"Sonic, do you see that lamppost?" Nick said, pointing at said post.

"Yeah. That's the lamppost your friend Haruka told us about," Sonic replied as he hopped off the lattice grid to safe ground.

Nick followed suit and said, "We spin that, we should find a Time Stone." Once Nick was next to the post, he jumped and smacked the side with his palm, causing the post to spin around and around. As it did, stars began to spin around it in a halo fashion.

"After you, Sonic," Nick said.

"Thanks, Nick," Sonic said before jumping into the halo of stars. Nick soon followed.

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(Author's Note: Okay, this story's Special Stage is quite different from the Special Stages in the original Sonic CD, and I thought I'd take a moment to explain it. Here, it starts out with Nick and Sonic running down a sewer-like path collecting rings. Then, when they reach a sealed door, Nick busts through it and the two begin falling down an endless chasm. Littering the chasm are rings, turbo gates, Time Stone balloons, spikes, and of course, the Time Stone at the end. They have to pop a certain number of TSBalloons by each of 3 checkpoints to get the Time Stone at the end. Some balloons will give a random power-up. Ok, let's get on with it.)

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Nick and Sonic appeared in what looked like a sewer path littered with rings. Nick then noticed that his feet wouldn't stop running.

"Um, Sonic? My feet are moving on their own," Nick said, a little uneasy.

"It happens a lot in the Special Stages," Sonic replied, feeling the same self-running effect. "Just let your feet do the work."

Nick nodded and focused on the path ahead, grabbing as many rings as they could. They soon reached a sealed gate. Nick rushed forward at top speed and punched a hole through the rather flimsy gate. He stood in place for a bit until reaching down. He felt...nothing.

He then looked down and saw an endless chasm below them.

"Hold on, Nick!" Sonic shouted, for that moment, they started dropping down the pit.

**SPECIAL STAGE I**

**POP 5 BALLOONS!**

Nick looked around the pit they were falling through. He then noticed, out of the many other objects, that there were balloons with pictures of the Time Stones on them.

"Sonic! Let's try popping those balloons!" Nick shouted.

"Great idea," Sonic said as he rolled into a ball, using his spikes to bounce off of, and subsequently, pop the first balloon. Nick swiped at one, popping it instantly.

The 5th balloon that Nick popped surrounded him with stars. "Wow! This feels great!" he shouted.

"An invincibility power-up will do that," Sonic replied as he shot through a turbo gate and past a giant glowing ring, Nick soon following.

**COOL!**

**POP 10 BALLOONS!**

Nick eventually got the hang of it, and began ricocheting off of the walls by grabbing on and using his terminal velocity to speed forward, collecting rings and popping balloons. They soon passed the 2nd checkpoint with 11 balloons popped.

**COOL!**

**POP 20 BALLOONS!**

Soon, spikes began popping up randomly. Nick, having just lost his invincibility powerup, was dodging the popping spikes to the best of his ability. Sonic seemed to just ricochet off of them. _He's really got this down pat,_ Nick thought. They eventually passed the gauntlet of spikes and began popping more balloons while collecting rings and zipping through turbo gates. They eventually reached the end with a total of 21 balloons popped.

**AWESOME!**

**SPECIAL STAGE COMPLETED!**

Nick suddenly saw a warp tunnel open up just below them.

"Nick, can you grab the Time Stone?" Sonic shouted over the vortex.

"Right!" the boy shouted, reaching for the mystical 6-pointed gemstone. Just as the vortex touched them, Nick nabbed the Blue Time Stone and they warped out of the Special Stage.

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Back in Electron Alley Zone, Nick and Sonic popped out of the halo of stars above the now grayed-out lamppost, the Blue Time Stone clutched in Nick's hand.

"All right!" Nick shouted, juggling the Time Stone in his hand.

Nick then noticed a TV monitor with a flame on it. He walked up and busted it, and was suddenly encircled in a fireball.

"Whoa, fire shield. Cool!" Nick said with excitement.

Suddenly, a rumbling from what was unmistakably a jet engine filled the area. The floor began to shake uncontrollably.

"What's that?" Nick asked as the rumbling intensified.

"Robotnik," Sonic simply stated as, who else, Robotnik, appeared in his Clawer Eggmobile. It was pretty much his regular Eggmobile with 3 sharp claws attached.

"Well, well, the cavalry has appeared. Just hand over that Time Stone and I'll probably let you off easy," Robotnik said with a sneer. Nick knew Robotnik wouldn't let them get away.

"Stow it, you freak! Where's Haruka?" Nick shouted.

"And where's Amy?" Sonic said as a claw swiped at them. They dodged it easily.

"Your friends are on my Death Egg, and that's all I'm saying."

"You'd better tell us everything, or we'll make you pay!" Nick said, dashing for the Eggmobile.

Robotnik swung a claw towards the boy, but he simply jumped it before launching into a flying kick that struck the Eggmobile hard and knocked a claw off.

"That's it! Sonic, we've gotta knock all 3 claws off!" Nick said to Sonic who was dashing forward.

"Give me a boost, would ya?" Sonic said, rolling into a ball and jumping into the air.

"Delighted," Nick said before catching Sonic in his hands. Nick began twirling his arm around as Robotnik approached. When it got close enough, Nick hurled Sonic fastball-style straight into the Eggmobile, knocking off another claw.

Sonic, as he bounced off the Eggmobile, jumped off many walls, eventually turning into a blue streak as he moved. Nick realized what Sonic was doing: he was distracting Robotnik for him, so Nick could land a final hit.

When Robotnik turned around so the Eggmobile's backside faced Nick, said boy charged for the ship, jumped into the air, and did his favorite move: the Descent Drop, where he clenched his fists together and slammed down on the target. The sheer force of the attack caused the Eggmobile's last claw to fall off and the mini-ship to go up in flames. Robotnik ejected and said, "Curse you, Sonic! You and your little friend! No matter. I _will_ find the Gold Timestone and conquer this world!"

"Oh, shut _up_ already, Robotnik!" Nick said, dashing forward, jumping, and performing the _Hi no Tama Dash_ with his fire shield, colliding head-first into the Eggmobile and knocking Robotnik for a loop, sending him straight out of the zone.

"Wow. You really showed him, eh, Nick?" Sonic said as he landed back on the ground.

"What can I say? _No one_ messes with my friends and gets away with it. _Especially_ not Robotnik," Nick said as they headed forward to reach Robotnik's staple animal capsule machine. Nick and Sonic jumped on the button, setting the animals free. Among the many freed animals, Nick noticed a piece of paper in what appeared to be ancient writing. Nick picked it up, read it over, and gasped.

"Sonic! You need to read this!" Nick said as Sonic walked up and looked at the ancient writing. On the paper were pictures of the 7 Time Stones, and an 8th jewel that looked even more powerful than the 7 Time Stones together.

"Is that...the Gold Timestone that Robotnik was talking about?" Sonic said, nearly out of breath when he read the ancient writing.

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Meanwhile, we shift to the Death Egg. Haruka is still exploring around the giant aircraft. She eventually comes across what appears to be an exit.

"I've got to get the heck out of here. There's no telling when Robotnik will be back," she says as she grabs a parachute from behind a machine. She walks up to the exit door, kicks it open, and dives down from the Death Egg, falling down to who knows where.

Soon enough, she pulls the rip cord and the parachute opens, slowing her descent towards what apppears to be an aerial highway.

"Is that... the Star Light Zone?" she says to herself.

Indeed, it is the ancient Star Light Zone, the Sonic staple aerial highway stage. She lands on the highway, ditching the parachute and running forward.

"I've got to find Nick. I hope he's safe," Haruka says, a tear falling.

"I really hope he's safe..."

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And that's Chapter 2! Sorry it took so long. Something I've gotta say: Each chapter might take a little longer to write, because eventually I'll include Haruka's adventure in conjunction with Nick and Sonic's quest. See you next chapter! - S.P.D. Gold Ranger

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( Next Time: Chapter 3 - "The Timestone Prophecy" )

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Nick and Sonic travel in time to the Future Frenzy Zone to put a stop to Robotnik's twisted plans. Meanwhile, Haruka explores the Star Light Zone in hopes of finding her friends.


	3. Operation Spacetrip

_Sonic CD 2: The Timestone Prophecy_

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Chapter 3: Operation Spacetrip (formerly "The Timestone Prophecy")

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Today on _Sonic CD 2_, Nick and Sonic travel to the Future Frenzy Zone to uncover some info on the Gold Timestone and the mysterious powers it holds. Meanwhile, Haruka journeys through the Star Light Zone in hopes of finding her friends. Little do they both know, something even bigger than they know is about to surface, something that will change their lives forever...

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. I just took a break from writing so I could think of some good ideas. Now, I'm making up for making you wait with an extra-long chapter! This consists of what used to be Chapters 3 and 4, but then I figured, "Hell, doing 2 chapters at a time is frustrating, so why not just combine both chapters?" And there you have it. Enjoy!

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Nick and Sonic came to a screeching halt in front of a Robotnik sign, one that usually signified the end of an area. Just to its left, there was 2 more signs, one marked 'Past' and one marked 'Future'. "Hey, Sonic? You see those time warp signs?" Nick asked, walking up to the 'Future' sign. "Yeah. I think I know what to do with them," the blue hedgehog said as he tensed up.

Nick jumped and smacked the 'Future' sign with his hand, causing it to spin around. Then, he could have sworn he heard a voice in his head say "Future..." Suddenly, a series of small sparkles appeared around both of them. Nick simply nodded to Sonic, and the two of them started running, passing the Robotnik sign.

When Nick reached his maximum velocity (Sonic was going at about Nick's speed, so he wouldn't leave his new friend behind) he spread his arms out behind his back and leaned forward a bit, and started running faster. It was his way of bypassing his own max running speed.

With that, a trail of sparkling stars began flowing behind the two. Nick suddenly saw a dead end right ahead of them. He tried to stop, but realized if he stopped now, they'd lose the time warp. But, at the same time, he knew if they kept going at max velocity, they'd slam into the wall, and believe me, that would probably hurt!

Nick decided to wing it and kept going at max velocity. He closed his eyes and braced for the impact...

...and just as they were about to hit the wall, both Nick and Sonic disappeared in an explosion of bright light.

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Meanwhile, Haruka, who had just escaped from the Death Egg, had landed in the ancient _Star Light Zone_: a massive and flashy aerial highway. She started running forward, a silver tear falling from her eye.

"I really hope Nick's safe..."

In her reverie, she had almost slammed straight into a strange robot guarded by 4 spiked balls. She did a slide attack under the robot before jumping back up. The girl noticed that the robot was ignoring her.

"Hmm... I wonder..."

She ignored it and continued on.

When she reached a see-saw type contraption, she jumped on it, and the spike on the other side flew into the air. As she looked up, she began walking to the other side, which was when the spike conviently chose to fall back down and land on the other side of the see-saw, catapulting Haruka up to the next ledge.

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Nick looked all around him, but all he could see was bright lights and their "time stars", as Nick liked to call them.

The force of their velocity was propelling the two heroes one step through time.

Nick suddenly felt a pulse of energy flow through him as the time warp neared its end. With one more swift flash, the brave teenager and the supersonic hedgehog flew through a gate and ended up in the future.

Or, more precisely, the _Future Frenzy Zone_, the city of Kyoto, Japan, as it would be in the future: a megatropolis of bright lights and metallic buildings. It was easy to get lost in here.

Nick took a quick look around, noticing another sign marked "Special". He smacked it, and he and Sonic disappeared, off to the Special Stage.

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Haruka grabbed onto the ledge she had just been flung up to, pulling herself up and moving forward.

She nearly ran into a walking bomb robot, which seemed to be ignoring her. Out of curiosity, Haruka touched the bot, and its short fuse kicked in. She scrambled out of the way before the bomb exploded into 4 flashing projectiles which just fell away. She looked up and saw a whole row of similar bomb bots stuck to the ceiling.

_Hmm...they're motion-detecting bombs. Maybe if I just sneak past them, they won't go off,_ Haruka thought, because she knew that motion-sensing could include voice recognition. She started tiptoing past the bombs, and so far, everything was going well.

That is, until the wind blew a rock in the bombs' general direction. The girl tensed up, waiting for the imminent explosion.

...nothing.

_Must have been out of range. Good,_ Haruka thought. She slowly resumed her tiptoe, but was suddenly tripped by what appeared to be a shining jewel. When she regained her composure, she picked up the glowing gemstone, which looked a LOT like a Chaos Emerald.

Unfortunately, that was when the whole row of bombs began shorting down.

She took notice of this, shouted, "Okay, time to run!" and dashed off at an impressive speed. (AN: Remember, Haruka's in track and field at school.) As she ran, she looked up and saw what appeared to be endless rows of bombs.

"Man, all these bombs could have enough force to destroy this whole zone!" she noted. It was apparent that this is what Robotnik had programmed these bots to do to deal with any intruders.

The first bomb exploded, followed by the 2nd, then the 3rd, and then every other bomb bot began exploding in sequence, the massive explosions causing tremors that began to shake the tunnel apart.

Haruka, still running for her life, noticed something at the other end of the tunnel.

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**SPECIAL STAGE 2!**

**POP 5 BALLOONS!**

As they began falling down the chasm, Nick noticed a long spiral of Rings leading down and through a couple balloons. "Sonic, let's follow that Ring spiral! Maybe we could get something!" Nick said as he maneuvered closer to the Rings. Then, Sonic grabbed Nick's hand, and as soon as the blue hedgehog touched the first ring, he glowed with power and shot off at incredible speed along the line of Rings. Nick recognized this move as the "Light Speed Dash", from the _Sonic Adventure _games.

"Wow, you have GOT to teach me that move sometime, Sonic!" Nick said to the super hog.

When they reached the end of the line, they heard a series of pops. Collecting all of those Rings has just popped all 7 balloons in this sector of the stage.

"All right!" Nick and Sonic shouted in unison.

They shot past the checkpoint.

**COOL!  
POP 10 BALLOONS!**

Nick decided to give the Light Speed Dash a shot when Sonic handed him a Power Ring (you know, those glowing Rings from _Sonic X_). He concentrated his energy on the Ring, and was able to home in on the Ring energy given off, and shot off through the line of Rings, popping all 8 balloons in the sector and shooting past a checkpoint. They were on a roll now, yes indeed.

**COOL!**

**POP 20 BALLOONS!**

Suddenly, spikes began popping up again. Nick was ready this time, however, and began to use his terminal velocity to deliver a powerful flying kick that shattered the spikes. While Nick was busy dealing with the pointy stuff, Sonic began popping more Time Stone Balloons, and by the end of the gauntlet, they had popped a total of 23 Balloons.

**AWESOME!**

**SPECIAL STAGE COMPLETE!**

As the vortex opened, Nick made a scramble for the mystical jewel. He was able to grab the green Time Stone before they were warped away.

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They shot from the stars back into the futuristic city, another Time Stone in their hands.

Just then, a Badnik crawled in front of them.

"This one's mine," Sonic said, rolling into a ball and starting up a Spin Dash. As the Badnik, which strongly resembled a scorpion, approached, Sonic rolled off with his spikes spinning around him, tearing the robot apart. Left in its wake was a magical seed that blossomed into a flower upon reaching the ground. Suddenly, another one came by. Nick stepped forward and charged, doing a backflip attack that he'd perfected a few days back and landed on top of the bumblebee Badnik, subsequently pinning it to the ground and splitting it in half.

That, of course, was when Robotnik showed up in his Octo-Egg, his Eggmobile with 8 robotic legs, each one's claws sparking with insane amounts of electrical power.

Nick looked at Sonic and said, "I don't think this is gonna be easy."

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As Haruka ran down the path, escaping from the rapidly approaching explosions, she noticed what appeared to be a rocket at the end of the tunnel.

"If I can just make it there," she said, kicking up the speed to avoid the explosions which were drawing dangerously close.

She finally reached the end of the insanely long tunnel and jumped onto the rocket. She began pounding on a button. "Come on, launch!" she shouted, and just like she wished, the rocket launched just before the explosions reached the end of the tunnel, sending the Star Light Zone into a crashing tumble.

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Nick and Sonic began circling the Octo-Egg, looking for a weak spot. So far, they'd found nothing. The electric shield didn't have a single gap in it. "Too bad, fools! My Octo-Egg is impenetrable!" Robotnik shouted, bouncing about like a malicious rubber ball. He pulled a lever, and one of the claws lined up to take a swipe at our heroes...

...and that's when the shield went down.

"Checkmate!" Nick shouted, and charged right for the Octo-Egg, launching into a flying kick that sent the machine tumbling off balance. "Sonic! When a claw rises, the shield goes down! Then we need to attack!"

"Got it!" Sonic said, and he immediately Spin Dashed into the machine, knocking off 2 claws.

Nick began circling the Octo-Egg again, providing a distraction that Sonic readily took advantage of. He began charging up for a Peel Out, but moved back when Robotnik smashed down on the spot Sonic was standing with one of the 6 remaining claws. Sonic moved back, still charging, and immediately dashed up the makeshift ramp. He then flew back down and struck the unprotected center of Robotnik's craft, knocking off 2 more claws.

Half the shield had disappeared now, and Robotnik's Eggmobile was in pretty bad shape now. But, of course, the fat doc wouldn't give up until his last dying breath, so he tried a new tactic: he negan spinning the remaining claws around in a vicious tornado attack. Nick and Sonic jumped back to avoid the attack. "Man, do you think we can attack him like this, Nick?" Sonic asked as they began circling the machine. "I know we can," Nick said. "I've seen enough movies like this to know a key fact: that tornado slash may be protecting Robotnik from direct attack, but who says we can't attack from the bottom?"

"Ah, I get it!" Sonic said with excitement, rolling into a ball and tearing into the unprotected bottom of the craft. The tornado attack stopped, and two more claws fell off. "Curses!" Robotnik shouted as his machine began tumbling off-balance again.

"It's time to end this!" Nick shouted, charging forward. He jumped into the air and performed the Descent Drop, destroying the Octo-Egg. "No! Another of my greatest creations destroyed!" the mad doc shouted, and flew away, cursing under his breath. "You see, Robotnik? You can never defeat us!" Nick shouted after the evil genius. The two heroes ran forward, going down a few tunnels and reaching what appeared to be a flower-shaped egg capsule. Sonic jumped and busted it, sending out a shower of magical seeds. They all bloomed immediately, signifying their victory.

They continued on, and came across what appeared to be a large, golden Ring hanging above the goal post. "What's that ring doing there?" Nick asked, walking up to the large ring. "I'll bet that leads to a Special Stage," Sonic simply stated, jumping into the ring and disappearing in a flash. Nick soon followed.

They were dumped out onto a stretch of road, dotted with water, springs, and all kinds of terrain. The most notable of these objects were 6 purple-ish spaceships.

"Wow. Who would have known UFOs actually existed?" Nick said, laughing a bit. Sonic ran forward and went into his Kaiten Attack, using his spikes to destroy a UFO. Rings began spouting from it. Now, Nick knew what to do.

(Note: These are the original Sonic CD Special Stages. I'm gonna mix Special Stages from other Sonic games to add some variety to the story.)

The two began zipping around the path, collecting items and destroying the dome-shaped ships until none were left. Just as Sonic expected, a Time Stone came floating down - the yellow one this time. The second Sonic touched the mystical jewel, they were warped out of the Special Stage.

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"Wow. Am I in space? This doesn't look like your run-of-the-mill space colony, and I'd rather not remember what happened on the ARK," Haruka said as she took a good look at the metallic fortress. She walked forward a few steps, then came across what looked like Sonic. The figure slowly moved closer.

As Haruka stepped back, she began to notice a pair of glowing red eyes.

She gasped.

Now she knew who that was.

Metal Sonic.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-The _Sonic Spaceway Zone_: a twisting maze of glass-bottomed walkways that weaves in and around a massive space colony. Ideally, the perfect place for Robotnik to search for the Time Stones. As Nick and Sonic flew from the Special Stage ring with their 3rd Time Stone in hand, Nick began studying the colony around them.

Suddenly, Sonic's spines shot up and a chill ran through the blue hedgehog. Something wasn't right.

Nick noticed this and said, "What is it, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog looked forward and said, "Something's not right here. I'm getting this weird vibe, and I've only felt this kind of weirdness twice."

"What do you think it is?" Nick replied, clutching their Time Stone tightly.

"It must be..."

"Let me go, you metal freak!" a girl's voice shouted.

Nick and Sonic spun around just in time to see a girl being carried off by an unmistakable metal copy of Sonic.

The two heroes looked at each other.

"Metal Sonic," they said in unison.

Sonic turned towards the path Metal Sonic was taking and began to rev up, his legs taking on a figure 8 shape. He then shot off at an insane velocity, leaving Nick to try and catch up.

Haruka began pounding on Metal Sonic's head, but to no avail - Metal Sonic's grip was too strong.

"Let go of me, you freak! I'm not going back to the Death Egg!" Haruka began shouting.

"I have other plans for you, my dear girl," Metal Sonic said in an ominous voice, which caused Haruka to tense up. "You will make great bait for my nemesis, and once I find Sonic the Hedgehog, he will be--"

Speaking of Sonic, said blue hedgehog, still in his Peel Out pose, rammed into Metal Sonic like a freight train, causing the robotic duplicate to drop Haruka and fall flat on his face.

Nick began running as fast as he could to catch Haruka as she fell. He put on an extra burst of speed, and with a swift jump, he caught Haruka just before she hit the ground.

"Wow, nice catch, Nick!" Haruka said, blushing a little bit.

"Now you know why I take track and field," the boy replied, as he hit a Dash Panel and flew forward to catch up with Sonic. Said hedgehog was pounding Metal Sonic with numerous Homing Attacks, and just as Nick and Haruka approached, Sonic jumped away, and Nick launched into a flying kick that sent Metal Sonic tumbling off of the walkway.

As Haruka looked down at the still-falling Metal Sonic, Nick said, "We'd better follow that thing. Maybe he knows something about the Gold Timestone!"

"Yeah, but where can we land? Everything seems like land from up here!" Haruka noted, pointing down at Mobius, which they seemed to be orbiting now.

Suddenly, the walkway they were standing on began crumbling, sending all 3 heroes plummeting through space.

"I knew I should have stayed home today!" Haruka shouted.

"There! Go for that lake!" Nick shouted, pointing to a rather large lake.

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Speaking of which, 3 figures (a boy, a girl, and a hedgehog) were rapidly dropping towards the entrance to the underwater ruins.

"Hold your breath, guys! We're going in for a landing!" Nick shouted over the whistling sounds. The minute they hit the water, though, all 3 heroes were encased in what appeared to be bubbles.

Later...

As they traversed through the underwater ruins, with the occasional loop-de-loop, Team Sonic found a "past" plate and were able to time warp to the past. They were dumped off in the same area, but the late afternoon sky was now the glorious yellow and orange of the early morning, and the temple looked a little deteriorated.

Upon reaching the past, Nick noticed a strange machine being guarded by a swarm of enemies. "Should we bust that machine?" Haruka said, just as Sonic began spinning through the enemy storm. The second Sonic's spikes touched the weird-looking machine, it blew up, and surprisingly to Haruka, so did all the enemies that were guarding the machine.

"What just happened?" she asked. She began to walk forward, but she tripped on what appeared to be a video device. After helping Haruka up, Nick looked at the device. Embedded just below the video screen was the unmistakable mug of Robotnik. Before anyone could say anything, a video feed started up. On the screen was what appeared to be a royal palace. Narration started up, which sounded a lot like Robotnik's voice.

(Note: Anything in italics up to the next story break is Robotnik narrating on the video feed, just so you know.)

_It was about 50 years ago that the world of Mobius was at peace, ruled by a powerful, but caring princess. This girl knew the secrets of 7 mystical jewels known only as the Time Stones, said to allow their user to defy time itself._

"Wow, so the Time Stones used to reside on Mobius before moving to the Little Planet?" Nick said in amazement.

"I wonder why?" Haruka said as the video feed continued.

_There were only a handful of people who actually knew the princess as a friend, so to say. They knew Princess Haruka could control the Time Stones, and subsequently, an even more mysterious jewel known as the Gold Timestone._

This surprised all 3 of them.

_Princess Haruka was a kind and benevolent ruler. She preferred to solve things peacefully, as opposed to the war-like tactics of certain neighboring kingdoms. Times were good with Princess Haruka at the throne. But, like all good things, peace was not to last._

_My grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, who had uncovered Mobius and the legend of the Time Stones recently, attacked the royal palace in hopes of getting the Time Stones for his own selfish deeds. In the midst of the fierce battle that took place, which the Mobian royal guard was losing fast, Princess Haruka knew that they were fighting a losing battle. There were already enough casualties sustained on the battlefield. She couldn't stand it anymore, and took the Time Stones and escaped to her royal chambers._

_Then, it happened. The neighboring echidna clan's most elite warriors busted into her chambers, charged and-_

The video skipped a bit before continuing.

_Haruka had a feeling that the Time Stones would be safe on another world, where the attacking kingdoms would not be able to find them. With the last of her energy, she sent the Time Stones off to the Little Planet. Her last words?_

"_Please... find a planet with a savior..."_

_Now, about 50 years later, I found a girl who has the exact same DNA of Princess Haruka. It would seem she may know something about the Gold Timestone._

The video stopped after that.

Nick could barely say anything. Neither could Sonic. Just then, they heard someone crying.

Nick turned around just in time to see Haruka, now in tears, running off.

"Haruka! Wait!" he shouted, but to no avail. He turned back to Sonic. "We need to find Robotnik. He's gonna pay for this," Nick said before running off towards the exit.

And from the look on Nick's face, Sonic didn't understand this any better than he did.

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Robotnik was in his H2O Eggmobile, patrolling the center of the ruins for any sign of Sonic - or Nick, for that matter. That boy had become a real annoyance lately, forming an alliance with Sonic. They already had 3 Time Stones!

Speaking of Nick, the very same boy had just arrived on the scene, and boy, was he pissed.

"I can't believe you kept that secret from Haruka!" Nick yelled at the evil doc.

"What secret?" Robotnik asked innocently.

"_This!_" Nick shouted, thrusting out the video device and playing back the feed.

"I didn't tell her because she would try to escape it, and you know how I don't like that!" was all Robotnik would say. Nick, however, was very angry.

"Do you even have _any_ feelings? Do you know how bad my best friend feels right now?" Nick shouted, beginning to glow a bit.

"Um...uh, I...um..." Robotnik was, for once, at a loss for words.

"Haruka ran away when she found out about the secret you kept from her, _and_ for your grandfather destroying her destiny! I can't believe you'd sink so low! You'll pay for this!" Nick shouted, a fierce energy aura springing up around him. Surprisingly, his collected Time Stones were reacting to the energy. The three mystic jewels began spinning around him, and eventually stars sprang up around the boy.

Robotnik finally looked scared.

"You should be scared, Robotnik. No one, and I mean _no one, messes with my friends and gets away with it!_" he shouted over the whirlwind of energy.

Nick charged forward and rammed straight into Robotnik's ship, causing considerable damage thanks to the swirl of energy surrounding him.

Robotnik, as soon as he regained his balance, flipped a switch and turned on the whirlpool generator, creating a large current that began to suck Nick in towards it.

Nick, always known to be one to examine things a lot, noticed that the fan blades creating the whirlpool were hanging a little loose, most likely from when he rammed the Eggmobile a few minutes back. The resulting crash may have loosened the blades.

Nick took advantage of this and charged for the updraft, utilizing his mysterious power to ram the fan blades, breaking them apart and sending the Eggmobile spinning. Nick decided it was time to bring this fight to a close. He grabbed the machine by an outstretched claw, and feeling incredible strength pouring through his very being, began spinning the craft around until it was nothing but a blur. Just then, Sonic raced into the arena, and was shocked at the sight. Nick finally released the claw, and Robotnik was sent flying with insane velocity straight into a wall, destroying the machine again (amazingly, the temple wall didn't turn into dust under the sheer force) and shooting Robotnik far away.

Sonic could barely speak as Nick let his collected energy go, making the sparkling whirlwind of power disappear.

(AN: Just in case you're wondering, they do still have their bubble shields.)

"Sonic, let's get out of this place. I hope Haruka's okay," he said before racing off, Sonic following. Nick saw Haruka silently sobbing by the flower egg. As Sonic proceeded to break the capsule open, Nick sat down by Haruka.

"Haruka? Is everything okay?" Nick said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

All she said was...

"I'm sorry."

Nick wondered what she was sorry for, but she beat him to it.

"Nick, I've been having these weird dreams just before this whole thing started. They usually involved a princess from a royal kingdom that looked a lot like me. They were peaceful at first, but..."

"Then what?" Nick said in a caring voice. He'd never seen Haruka like this before.

"A few days later, they started getting more intense. A clan of echidnas began attacking the palace from my dreams..." As she spoke, her blue eyes began shining. "...and nearly destroyed it, the princess included..."

She slowly looked up at Nick.

"I'm sorry I kept it from you. I didn't want you to think I was being silly..."

Nick wrapped his arms around his best friend and said, "Hey, royalty or not, you're my best friend, Haruka. Nothing could ever change that."

She smiled and hugged Nick back. They held the position for a while until Sonic, from far away, shouted, "Hey, guys! You coming or what?"

"We'll be right there, Sonic!" Nick shouted to the blue hedgehog. As Nick and Haruka stood up, Haruka dug into her pocket and pulled out the red Time Stone. "I swiped this from Robotnik just before I escaped from the Death Egg. I figured you guys might need it."

Nick took the Time Stone and smiled. "That's 4 now."

Haruka simply smiled as they raced towards the exit, where a giant gold ring was waiting. They all jumped into it.

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Author's Note 2: And that's the chapter! I never expected to do 2 zones in one chapter, but hey, it's better than other things, right? See you later! - S.P.D. Gold Ranger

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( Next Time: Chapter 4, "Star Light, Star Bright" )

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Reunited at last, Nick, Haruka, and Sonic travel to the Starlight Speedway Zone to find Metal Sonic and Robotnik. What they do find, though, is something they'll wish they could forget.


	4. Star Light, Star Bright, Act 1

_Sonic CD 2: The Timestone Prophecy_

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( Chapter 4: "Star Light, Star Bright, Act 1" )

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Last time on _Sonic CD 2_, Nick and Sonic finally rescued Haruka, only to discover that Metal Sonic is back and looking for revenge. Later on, the team landed in the Seaside City Zone, where they discovered a shocking secret about Haruka's past! What will they do now?

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Flying out from the Special Stage Ring, Nick, Haruka, and Sonic were dumped out into what appeared to be a half-pipe tunnel that ran over a cityscape. "This looks like the tunnels I ran into on Flicky Island!" Sonic said in surprise. "Then I think I know what we need to do," Nick said, shooting off down the tunnel, leaving Haruka and Sonic to catch up.

**COLLECT 50 RINGS!**

**START!**

As the team zoomed across the tunnel, they noticed Rings in weird formations popping up all over. They began collecting various amounts of Rings while avoiding mines and other obstacles. Once, Nick noticed just in time that a circle of mines was chasing them.

All of a sudden, Nick heard a beep from his watch. He looked at it, only to see that the time had been replaced with a Ring counter, tracking down how many Rings they'd collected so far. As of this time, the counter read **37/50, Approaching 1st Checkpoint**. "We don't have enough Rings! What do we do?" Haruka said. Just then, she noticed that the next path split into 2 side paths. "I'll check out the right path. You guys stick left," Sonic said before changing direction and speeding down the right side of the fork. Haruka decided that now would be a good time to ask Nick about something that had been confusing her ever since she performed her first time warp.

"Hey, Nick?"

"Yeah?" the brown-haired boy responded.

"I've been wondering... ever since we performed that time warp in Seaside City, something's really been bugging me. Wouldn't our physical and mental states have evolved or brought back whenever we would do a time warp?" Haruka asked.

"Oh! Sonic told me about that just a few days ago. He said that the time warps we've been using are sort of incomplete, just enough so that our physical styles wouldn't be hindered or pushed too far ahead by doing a simple time warp. The ones Robotnik is using are probably far more advanced than ours, so that must be why he looks different every time we face him in a different time zone," Nick explained.

"Oh, I see," the brunette girl responded just as the 2 paths merged back into one. A few seconds later, they were joined by Sonic, who had a handful of Rings stashed with him.

Nick checked his watch: **62/50 Rings**. They had just enough to cross the checkpoint.

**COOL!**

**COLLECT 90 RINGS!**

They continued on, collecting more Rings and avoiding spikes. About halfway through the second course, Nick took notice of a Ring formation made of 3 rows side-by-side, one that extended almost halfway to the end of the second course. Suddenly, Nick had an idea.

He took hold of Haruka's wrist, and he grabbed on to Sonic's hand just as they approached the Ring formation. Nick then hit a Dash Panel and zoomed off, spreading his teammates out so that they could collect all the Rings in the rows.

"Wow! Nice technique!" Haruka said with excitement.

"Now I'm glad I pay attention when I'm on the track," Nick said, taking a quick look at his watch: it read **120/90 Rings, Nearing Completion**. They were just about done here. The last order of business was to grab the Time Stone.

Unfortunately, that was the exact moment that a set of mines decided to pop out, and at the least expectant moment, too.

All three heroes tripped on the mines, making them drop some of their Rings. As they got up and continued their run, Haruka asked, "How many Rings did those stupid mines take away from us?"

Nick checked his watch: **92/90 Rings**. "About 28. We still have enough for the Time Stone."

Speaking of which, the silver Time Stone floated down in front of them. Nick jumped and grabbed the mystic jewel before they were warped away.

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They landed in a flashy aerial highway that appeared to be the successor to Stardust Speedway.

They, in fact, had landed in the _Starlight Speedway Zone_: the apparent successor to Stardust Speedway, but even flashier, with trails that flashed neon colors, all kinds of translucent signs flashing, the works!

Nick noticed one thing amiss here: his watch could now read what time zone they were in.

And currently, it said **Future**.

And this future looked grim and dark.

"Robotnik must have done this," Haruka said, clenching her fists.

"I don't think it was Robotnik. I'll bet it was Metal Sonic," Nick said, balling his own fists.

**Nick's P.O.V.**

This was no ordinary world. Everything in this highway, though flashy and colorful, also looked dark and gloomy. I wondered how both future outcomes could combine themselves. Robotnik's really smart, I'll give him that, but he's _definitely_ no quantum physicist!

Metal Sonic must have done this. I wonder if he ever used to have any conscience in him. I doubted that highly; he's a robot, for god's sake. Something came back to me - Metal Sonic had said something about having his own plans for Haruka when we encountered them back at Sonic Spaceway. Does Metal Sonic know about Haruka's past life? If so, how did he find out? Last time I remember, Metal Sonic didn't work for Robotnik. It was weird.

**Back to regular P.O.V.**

Speaking of which (AN: I seem to be saying that a lot), who else but Metal Sonic should appear, in his advanced form.

Nick stepped forward. "What do you want?"

"Revenge," was all the robot said.

Haruka tensed up as she readied herself.

Suddenly, a gigantic red laser beam shot from Metal Sonic's chest cavity and struck the highway around the 3 heroes.

**Nick's P.O.V.**

Time seemed to stop right there as the beam struck the highway. Sonic and I were able to jump away, but the beam came too fast for Haruka, as the patch of highway she was standing on crumbled under her feet. Time screeched back to a start as I dived off the highway in a desperate reach to save my best friend. Sonic shouted, "Come on! We have to get out of here!"

I shouted back, "I'm not about to leave my best friend behind!"

**Haruka's P.O.V.**

I was amazed when I heard him say that. He's been my friend for 6 years now, and we've been through good and bad times (especially at school), but now I knew my life was on the line here. I had to think of something, and fast.

Then, it hit me.

Nick had lent me the 5 Time Stones we'd collected so far as we'd entered Starlight Speedway.

I could use those.

But how?

**Nick's P.O.V.**

I saw Haruka take out our collected Time Stones as she fell. The mystic stones began to swirl around her. I wondered what she meant to do with them.

Suddenly, the jewels began to swirl around her, enveloping her in a cyclone of energy, just like me back at Seaside City. Her form drastically changed as the energy surrounded her, brightening the surrounding area of the speedway even more (if that was even possible).

When the light cleared, I saw Haruka in a princess-style outfit similar to the one we'd seen the Mobian princess in during that video feed: crown, shiny tiara, and everything.

Unknowingly, both Haruka and I said, "The princess is back."

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Author's Note: All right! The princess has returned, and what a time for her to do so! 'Till next time!

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( Chapter 5: "Star Light, Star Bright, Act 2" )

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Haruka returns as the half-century dead princess of Mobius, and just in time, too. Together, the super-charged Team Sonic is able to take out Metal Sonic. However, Robotnik has found the Gold Timestone, and is powering up the Death Egg. It's a race to the rising sphere of destruction. But is it already too late?


	5. Star Light, Star Bright, Act 2

**Haruka's P.O.V.**

I was amazed when I heard him say that. He's been my friend for 6 years now, and we've been through good and bad times (especially at school), but now I knew my life was on the line here. I had to think of something, and fast.

Then, it hit me.

Nick had lent me the 5 Time Stones we'd collected so far as we'd entered Starlight Speedway.

I could use those.

But how?

**Nick's P.O.V.**

I saw Haruka take out our collected Time Stones as she fell. The mystic stones began to swirl around her. I wondered what she meant to do with them.

Suddenly, the jewels began to swirl around her, enveloping her in a cyclone of energy, just like me back at Seaside City. Her form drastically changed as the energy surrounded her, brightening the surrounding area of the speedway even more (if that was even possible).

When the light cleared, I saw Haruka in a princess-style outfit similar to the one we'd seen the Mobian princess in during that video feed: crown, shiny tiara, and everything.

Unknowingly, both Haruka and I said, "The princess is back."

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(When people trust you, you should trust them back. It's one of the many lessons of life.)

S.P.D. Gold Ranger presents:  
_Sonic CD 2: The Timestone Prophecy_ Chapter 5  
Summary: When Haruka transforms into the princess, Team Sonic is easily able to defeat Metal Sonic. But is it too late to save Mobius? Eggman has found the Gold Timestone and the Death Egg is launching! Can our heroes reach the rising sphere of destruction in time?  
Author's Note: I am SO SORRY I haven't updated this story for a while. I put it on hiatus because I'd run out of ideas at the time. But now, I'm determined to get this story finished!

Quick note that I forgot to mention before: I do not, repeat, DO NOT own Sonic or his friends. They belong to SEGA and Sonic Team. However, Nick and Haruka are my characters, and thus they belong to me.

One more thing: From now on, I'll be referring to Robotnik as Eggman. Makes a lot more sense.

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_Episode 5: Star Light, Star Bright, Act 2_

As Haruka, in her princess attire, floated back to the highway, Metal Sonic stepped back, apparently scared, though his emotionless face didn't show it.

"I don't believe it," Metal said, his voice quivering.

"What's the matter, Metal? Are you _scared_?" Sonic asked with a hint of sarcasm, his body glowing a radiant sapphire.

"Um..." Metal said, at a loss for words.

"I don't care if you're working for Eggman or not! You're finished, Metal!" Nick shouted, his body glowing a bright amethyst.

Haruka just smiled, her body glowing a shining pink.

"No! I will not be denied!" Metal shouted, firing his eye lasers for the trio. Nick just batted them away as the glow radiating from the three of them began to intensify.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Nick exclaimed. "You really have no clue what the powers of the Time Stones can do, can you, Metal?"

"It's over for you, Metal Sonic! Your reign is coming to an end!"

"All together now!" Nick exclaimed.

"_Sonic Crash Attack!_" the trio shouted, releasing their collected energy in the form of a massive 3-way energy burst that headed straight for Metal.

The robotic version of Sonic could only look on as the mass of energy drew even closer. Thinking quickly, Metal fired his chest laser in hopes of pushing the beam back. Alas, it was to no avail, as the Sonic Crash Attack literally tore through his beam and striking the metal menace. His last words were...

"Long live the Eggman Empire!"

With those words, Metal Sonic exploded in a flash of orange and red, illuminating the early morning sky. When all traces of the robot were gone, the dark and bleak background of the zone shifted to a bright and cheery silver and ruby. Apparently, defeating Metal Sonic had just created a good future for this zone.

From the spot where Metal had been vaporized, a pink gemstone dropped to the floor. Sonic quickly raced over to pick it up, while Nick looked at Haruka.

"Haruka? Are you still in there?"

Haruka smiled.

"Yep, it's still me. The Time Stones had enough power to let me become my princess form as well as maintaining my old personality. I had no idea they could do that."

"Well, we did it," Nick replied. "Metal Sonic is gone, we've saved the future, and... wait. What happened to Eggman?"

As if to answer Nick's question, a loud rumbling began to shake up the surrounding highway, nearly knocking everyone off of their feet.

"What in the world is that?" Sonic asked while trying to stay on his own two feet.

"Um, guys?" Nick said, pointing into the sky. "Look!"

Everyone looked up into the sky, not being able to believe what they were seeing.

The Death Egg was launching!

"How's that possible?" Nick asked as the rumbling intensified. "Where'd Eggman get so much power? He'd need all 7 Time Stones to power that thing!"

"Or a jewel that's more powerful than all 7 combined!" Haruka suddenly added.

"You don't think..." Sonic said.

"_The Gold Time Stone!_" the trio exclaimed.

"How'd he get it?" Haruka asked.

"There's only one way to find out!" Nick replied. "We need to hurry and get on board the Death Egg before that thing clears the atmosphere!"

"But how? That thing's way too high for us to jump to!" Haruka exclaimed.

"Um," Sonic said, drawing attention towards himself. "Did anyone forget about my speed? I can run up virtually any vertical surface no problem! I just need a good running start first..."

"All right then, let's do it!" Nick stated as everyone began backing up, getting ready to dash. After a few seconds, everyone charged forward, with Sonic taking the lead. After a while of running, the trio began running up the side of a silver building.

"I hope this glass holds," Sonic said.

"Don't worry, Sonic. If I know anything about the future, it's that glass won't break from something like this," Nick replied.

Suddenly, a humming noise could be heard from the rising sphere of destruction. Many bright red lights appeared on its metallic surface and began glowing.

"Um, guys? What are those red lights on the Death Egg?" Haruka asked.

"I have this sickening feeling that we're about to find out," Nick replied. Just as he said that, gigantic ruby-colored lasers shot from the lights.

"Lasers!" Sonic exclaimed.

"He's trying to destroy this whole zone, us included!" Haruka shouted.

"Then we'd better step it up, and NOW!" Nick replied. That said, the trio began running even faster, but even more laser beams were fired from the Death Egg.

"Man, it seems that every time we speed up, that thing just fires more lasers!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Guys?" Nick asked, slightly worried. "The end of the highway is coming!"

Nick pointed to the top of the road the trio was running on, which ended in... well, nothingness.

Unfortunately, Eggman seemed to notice that, aiming one of the lasers straight for the trio.

"Oh, man! That thing's aiming right for us!" Nick pointed out.

"If we don't jump, we're toast!" Sonic replied.

Haruka, however, was smiling brightly. She closed her eyes and focused. As she did, her tiara began glowing with a bright emerald light.

"No WAY," Nick said.

"Is that..." Sonic finished.

"_Chaos Control!_" Haruka shouted. Her tiara produced a barrier-type energy field that covered the trio. Just as the Death Egg's laser blast hit the part of the runway everyone was running on, they were gone.

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The _Death Egg Zone_: the twisted corridors and passageways of the Death Egg. One can easily go insane trying not to get lost in these twisting paths, provided you're not already crazy enough to actually _board_ this rising sphere of destruction.

On a long pathway that extended out near the bottom of the Death Egg (most likely a runway for some of Eggman's flying machines), a bright emerald orb appeared. When the light cleared out, Nick, Haruka (still in princess form), and Sonic were left standing on the runway.

"Whoa. How did you _do_ that, Haruka?" Nick asked in wonder.

"Oh, you mean that Chaos Control?" Haruka replied. "It's quite simple really. I just found out that the princess' tiara was infused with Chaos Energy, making it possible to use Chaos Control whenever you wanted, without the emeralds!"

Nick and Sonic could only stare on.

"Hey, it's good to be the princess, huh?" she replied with a giggle.

"Fools!" Eggman's unmistakable voice rang out, echoing all over the Death Egg. "You may have avoided falling to your doom, but now that you've arrived on my masterpiece, you're never leaving – not alive, at least. Hahahahahahahahaha!"

"Do you know where he is?" Nick asked.

"If I know Eggman, he's probably at the center, somewhere in the control room," Sonic replied. "I've been on this thing twice, and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty."

"Then we'd better stop him before this thing gets into orbit!" Nick stated. Just as he finished saying that, a squadron of Buzzbombers converged on the group, each robotic bee firing their lasers and covering the runway in a storm of laser fire.

Haruka closed her eyes and concentrated, her tiara once again shining. A few seconds later, a shining energy blade materialized and slashed through the entire squadron, which instantly fell to pieces.

"Come on, Eggman. You could at least make it a challenge!" Haruka exclaimed.

"All right, everyone. Let's find Eggman!" Nick exclaimed, and with that, the trio was off, off into the menacing corridors of the Death Egg.

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Up in the aforementioned control room at the very top of the Death Egg sat the rotund form of Dr. Eggman. As he shifted his gaze across the many viewscreens that covered the control room, he began to think. For a while ever since those fools had landed on his floating masterpiece, they'd actually been doing a pretty good job of handling everything he'd thrown at them. "Those kids and that blasted hedgehog are actually making my fortress look like a game! Maybe I should send out the heavy artillery to stop them in their tracks. Theta! Report!"

From deep in the shadows, a towering robot emerged, looking much like a cross between E-101 Beta Mk II and E-123 Omega. This was E-130 Theta, Eggman's newest creation from his E-100 robot series. This time, however, Eggman wasn't taking any chances. So, instead of using a Flicky to power it like he had with most of the older E-100 models, he used the final Time Stone, one he'd found while scouring the Little Planet. "Yes, Master Eggman."

"I have a little mission for you."

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They were almost there. Just a few more hallways...

As a spiky ball robot flew for the trio, Sonic lunged forward, curling into a ball and using his sharp spines to literally tear the bot in half.

Nick, meanwhile, was facing down a pair of E-100 series robots, very similar in respect to E-101 Beta. "This could be trouble... wait. I've got an idea! Haruka! Sonic! Come over here for a minute!"

When the other two arrived by Nick's side, Nick began explaining his plan. "I know that Eggman put some heavy-duty armor on these things, so there's no way we can defeat it with a regular attack. My idea is, if we can somehow send Sonic into those things at a high enough velocity, he could tear right through them!"

"But how can we do that?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"You know what volleyball is, Sonic?" Haruka asked.

"Oh, yeah. Cream plays it all the time at school," Sonic replied.

"That's the basic idea," Nick replied. Sonic smiled and winked, signaling that he got the message, and curled up into a ball again, easily allowing Nick to pick him up. Nick tossed Sonic a short ways into the air. "Just a bump..." Nick joined his fists together, as if he were really playing volleyball.

"Set..." Nick bounced the balled-up Sonic off of his closed fists, sending the blue mammal a little higher skyward.

"...and spike!"

With that, Nick jumped high into the air and brought his fist forward hard, slamming it into Sonic's back and sending the balled-up hedgehog flying for the first robot. At that point, Sonic unfurled his spikes, and at just the right time, too – Sonic's careening form collided with the first robot, tearing into vital components. Sonic bounced off of the first robot, still in ball form, and flew towards Haruka just as it exploded in a blaze of glory.

Haruka turned so her back was facing the remaining robot, and jumped into the air, doing a sort of backflip. Once Sonic was close enough, Haruka brought her foot out, letting it contact with Sonic's spinning form and sending him careening towards the other robot. Just like before, Sonic tore into vital components, then bounced away before the robot exploded.

Sonic landed on the ground and came out of his ball form. "That was cool! Even if it was a little painful..."

"Come on, everybody, I think I can see the control room up ahead!" Nick shouted.

"Let's just hope we won't have to deal with another..." Sonic started.

As if on cue, a towering E-100 series robot emerged from the shadows nearby.

"...enemy..." Sonic finished, slapping his forehead.

"So I see Eggman sent out the big guns now," Nick said, looking the new robot up and down.

"Master Eggman has ordered me to destroy you three, and I will carry out his orders!" Theta responded, firing his arm laser for Nick, who was barely able to dodge it.

"Man! I thought I'd seen Omega fire lasers that were that big!" Sonic exclaimed.

Suddenly, Haruka's tiara began glowing. "Guys, I think there's a Time Stone around here! And it's REALLY close by!"

Nick and Sonic looked at the towering Theta. "You don't think..."

"Yes! It's in that robot!" Haruka replied.

"So you know of my power source," Theta said in a booming voice. "Very well, I shall destroy you first!"

Theta turned his laser on Haruka, but she was able to teleport away quickly using Chaos Control. "Missed!"

Theta quickly turned to Haruka's new spot and fired again, but Haruka teleported away again. "You're too slow!"

The E-Series robot fired yet again, and yet again, Haruka teleported. "Is that your best?" Then, she winked to Nick and Sonic.

"Ah! I get what she's doing!" Nick exclaimed.

"What is she doing?" Sonic replied.

"She's distracting Mr. Giant over here so we can grab the Time Stone!" Nick explained. "The problem is, how do we get it out of there without harming it?"

Nick looked back at Theta, who was firing his lasers every which way in a feeble attempt to blast Princess Haruka to pieces. Suddenly, Nick saw it – the unmistakable glow of the final Time Stone, lodged in the back panel of the massive robot. "Found it!"

"Okay, Sonic. When I give you the signal, we need to use our strongest attacks on that thing, okay?" Nick said to Sonic, who nodded. With that, Nick charged forward, using a nearby spring to propel him high into the air and land on top of the massive Theta. Acting quickly, Nick grabbed the panel covering the Time Stone and ripped it off. Grabbing the purple mystic jewel, Nick leaped off of the bot, only to have Haruka catch him before he hit the ground.

"Nice catch, Haruka," Nick said as he hopped to his feet and stood next to Haruka, Sonic joining the team soon after.

"System error... sys-system err-error, malfunction, malfunction..." Theta stuttered, his programming shutting down thanks to the extreme drop in his power source.

"Now!" Nick shouted. Each member of the trio began glowing like they had at Starlight Speedway.

"_Sonic Crash Attack!_" they all shouted, firing the three-way energy burst that defeated Metal Sonic. The wave of energy blasted straight through Theta, leaving a rather gaping hole in the massive robot. It only took five seconds for Theta to explode from the damage.

Just as the explosion settled down, the Time Stone in Nick's hand began radiating and rising into the air. The other 6 Time Stones appeared and began doing the same thing. The 7 mystical gemstones began spinning around Nick, Haruka, and Sonic, the energy lifting the trio off of their feet.

"What's happening?" Nick shouted.

The Time Stones soon flashed a bright white, covering the area in a giant flash of light. When the light cleared down, the trio had undergone a radical transformation.

Nick's hair had turned thicker, spiked up, curved backwards, and turned a bright gold. His brown eyes had also shifted to an emerald green.

Haruka's long, flowing hair seemed to join together into 7 sharp, thick ponytails that was also glowing the same gold color as Nick's hair. Her eyes shifted from sapphire to strawberry pink.

Sonic's spines had stood on end and turned bright yellow, his eyes a sharp red.

A fierce golden energy aura was surrounding all of them as they touched down. When the aura faded, Nick looked at his friends. "What just happened?"

Super Sonic stepped up. "I think I know what's going on here. If I know anything about the Time Stones from my last adventure on the Little Planet, it's that they have similar, if not the exact same properties as the Chaos Emeralds. I can only turn into my Super form if I have all 7 Chaos Emeralds. I'm guessing the Time Stones did the same thing with all of us."

"Wow," Nick said. "Didn't you turn into Super Sonic the last time you were on the Little Planet?"

"I didn't have much time to actually transform," Super Sonic replied. "Besides, I'd bet that if I used a time warp as Super Sonic, I'd probably be knocked out of it."

"Hey, guys?" Haruka said. "There's something suspicious up ahead!"

"What do you think it is?" Nick asked, peering at the mysterious object.

Super Sonic floated over and checked out the suspicious-looking thing. It seemed to be a red ball of energy with several metal tubes protruding from it. Each tube seemed to run into a massive generator that was hidden by the shadows. Inside the red ball sat a gold jewel that looked exactly like the Time Stones.

"Guys," Super Sonic said, "I think this is the core of the Death Egg!"

"It's gotta be! That must be the Gold Time Stone in there!" Haruka replied. "But how do we get it out without inadvertently destroying it?"

"You leave that to me, Haruka," Nick said, dashing over to the core. His body was surrounded by the same golden aura from before as he reached for the core. His hand easily phased through the molten red metal and grabbed the Gold Time Stone, drawing it out from the core.

Nick then moved backwards a bit, then charged forward, gaining altitude quickly as he aimed an attack for the core. Thanks to the added power of his super form, one slash kick was all he needed to penetrate the core of the Death Egg. The molten metal fell into two neatly-cut pieces.

However, that's when rather enormous explosions began to rock the area. Apparently, destroying the core had triggered this.

"Guys!" Nick shouted, dashing back to the group. "The Death Egg's about to explode! We need to get out of here! NOW!"

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Next Time:

_Chapter 6: Flickering Memories_

It's a race against time as the team races to escape the exploding Death Egg. However, with time running out quickly, will this be our heroes' last hurrah?

Ja ne,  
S.P.D. Gold Ranger


End file.
